Filmgoers at the Sundance Film Festival are getting two very different looks at the civil war in Syria this year.

Both films take viewers straight into war-torn Syria, where foreign journalists have largely been banned, giving a direct look at the people and cities that have been torn apart. But the two films offer American viewers very different perspectives.

“E-Team,” a documentary film directed by Sundance veterans Katy Chevigny (“Deadline”) and Ross Kauffman (“Born into Brothels”), follows a group of human rights activists as they travel the world documenting atrocities after they happen.

“Return to Homs,” an Arabic (with English subtitles) film by Syrian documentarian Talal Derki, follows a 19-year-old soccer player and peaceful demonstrator as the war transforms him into a violent rebel fighting the Syrian military after it besieges his hometown of Homs. “Return to Homs” is filmed in part by the rebels themselves, and takes viewers into their most private moments, as they sing, cry, fight and die together.

In “E-Team,” which follows a group called the Emergencies Team that work for Human Rights Watch, it is through the eyes of the human rights activists that viewers hear a mother recount how Syrian soldiers stormed into her home and killed her three sons, or hear directly from a man standing amidst rubble in his recently bombed village tell of the death of his brother, sister and stepmother only hours earlier.

But the film also smartly turns the human rights activists into characters in the film, documenting not just their work, but their relationships with their children, spouses and parents. The film’s stars are a married couple, Anya and Ole. Viewers watch Anya hug her son goodbye in Paris, sneak with her husband Ole over the Syrian border and then learn that the couple is trying to get pregnant. The film ends in the hospital room, shortly after Anya has given birth, as she tries to find a time to speak with a journalist about what she has learned on her most recent trip to Syria.

Ms. Chevigny said the filmmakers tried to focus on moments that had nothing to do with war or violence but showed almost mundane human moments. For example, viewers hear Anya’s excitement as she passes a cart of beautiful strawberries on her way to being smuggled into Syria.

“For us, it’s all about character and story,” said Mr. Kauffman, co-director of the film. “The key is you just want to connect to people.”

“Return to Homs” takes viewers directly into the most violent moments of the conflict, seeing it unfold from the perspective of a group of young men who begin as peaceful demonstrators and turn into violent rebels. The film follows Basset, a 19-year-old soccer player who becomes an icon for his songs about revolution, freedom and the evil perpetrated by Syrian dictator Basher al-Assad. After the Syrian military puts Basset’s hometown of Homs under siege, he and his friends turn into violent rebels. Viewers watch footage filmed by shaky cameras as Basset tries to encourage his friends with morale-building songs but also slowly falls into his own depression as his friends keep dying.

The Damascus-born Mr. Derki has made short films and TV documentaries. But when the revolution began he knew he needed to find a character that could help him craft a longer form story. He searched for an American-style hero that an international audience could relate to. “I wanted it to be somebody who had energy, something special to make people feel this is cinema,” he said.

Producer Orwa Nyrabia, who was imprisoned by the Syrian military for his role in the film in August 2012 and later released due to international pressure, said he chose to get involved with the project so an international audience could see that the rebels were not just jihadists, but revolutionaries fighting for democracy.

One of the biggest strengths of the film is how it gives viewers the feeling that they are in the middle of the battle. The footage is shaky and the narration is limited, leaving viewers as confused and unfocused as the young rebels themselves.

One of the biggest challenges for the filmmakers — finding professional cameramen willing to go into the middle of the violence — turned out well for the film’s intimate feel. Mr. Derki said he interviewed 20 professional cameramen to help him film the rebels, and each turned him down. He finally had to teach one of the rebels to use a camera. Mr. Derki couldn’t get into Syria for the last seven months of shooting, and left it entirely to activists. The filmmakers later smuggled the footage out of Syria.

For both films, it is the human story at the heart of the documentary is what makes them work. “I’m a storyteller,” said Mr. Derki. “I don’t care about an idea. With an idea, you cannot build the story.”

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